10 SAT Tips You’ve Been Chasing

#10. Pick a date and stick with it!

Commit to a test date and a preparation plan and stick to it. Everyone feels nervous in the days leading up to the test, putting it off will only prolong and amplify the anxiety.

#9. Your test preparation will take twice as long as you thought.

Pretty much everyone underestimates how much time they’ll need to get ready for their exam so plan accordingly.

#8. Look out for Trigger Words.

Read questions and all of the answer choices carefully! Watch out for these: but, except, always, only, not.

#7. Draw it.

If they don’t give you a picture or a diagram, draw it yourself. If the diagram says that it is not drawn to scale, re-draw it.

#6. Familiarize yourself with the content.

Refresh your knowledge and skills in the content areas of each exam. Do you remember…is the number 0 odd, even or neither?…Hmmmm?

#5. Practice! Practice! Practice!

Taking these exams successfully requires a set of acquired skills and by learning the rules, you will increase your ability to master them. Full-length practice builds familiarity, speed, and accuracy.

#4. 80/20 Rule.

Spend 80% of the time on the most important 20% of the material especially if you are in a time crunch for prepping. Instead of stressing yourself trying to learn every concept, make sure you focus most on material you consider core to the exam.

#3. Study Smarter.

Mix content. When you focus on the same information for a while, your brain gets lazy. It is better to study distinct but related concepts—such as a series of math different formulas—in each sitting. This forces your brain to figure out the similarities and differences between the pieces of information and figure out when to apply each one. And it doesn’t hurt that real tests generally feature mixed content—you rarely get tests with all questions of a single type lumped together.

#2. “Just Skip It.”

Consider entirely skipping a passage if you find it too difficult or it does not fit you pacing plan. Fill in answers for it if there is no penalty, of course, but use the time that you’ll save by maximizing your performance on the other passages.

#1. Read questions carefully.

If the question tells you 4n =100 and asks for the value of 2n, then don’t be the one who answers 25. You’d be surprised at how many people lose points by going too fast or not reading what they ask for in the answer.

Kofi is maniacally focused on ensuring that Admit.me provides equal access to college and grad school for all applicants. He is still trying to recover from his poverty-inducing days at Harvard, Harvard Ed, and Wharton.